W e work primarily with mouse models where we can examine T cell behavior in vivo at a high resolution. We use transgenic and knockout mice of various flavors routinely - and are involved in generating some of our own. The mechanisms we study are (hopefully) relevant to a wide variety of patho-physiological contexts. So, depending on the specific experimental question, we have available in the lab, the following models ::


Autoimmunity :
  • Arthritis
  • Psoriasis / Dermatitis

Transplantation:
  • Hyperacute rejection
  • Solid Graft rejection

Infectious disease:
  • Leishmania
  • Plasmodium

Tumor:
  • Melanoma

The lab uses a wide variety of cellular and molecular techniques as required by particular experiments. On any given week we may be doing any or all of these ...

  • Isolation of primary T, B and Dendritic cells, magnetic bead purifications, MACS etc.
  • Flow Cytometry & Cell sorting
  • Overexpression/Knockdown of genes in primary lymphocytes using Amaxa nucleofaction, Retroviral transduction or Electroporation
  • Retrogenic mice - retroviral transduction of primary Bone Marrow stem cells followed by generation of chimeric mice (primarily to clone & express specific T cell receptors)
  • ELISAs, Luminex, Bead array & other cytokine measurements
  • TCR repertoire analysis, MHC tetramers, expression in insect cells
  • Culture, growth and infection with parasites
  • Cell culture and in vitro assays for T or DC function
  • Standard molecular biology & biochemistry techniques.

R

eagents from the lab: